HALLOWEEN MONTH IS HERE! As always here at Balladeer’s Blog I will spend the month sprinkling in obscure or forgotten horror stories, movies, and so on. All of that will be in addition to the usual topics I cover here. We’ll start today with something YOU the readers requested – a handy guide to my examination of the surreal horrors found in The Songs of Maldoror. For the First Canto click HERE

SECOND CANTO

Second Canto, Stanza 1: This was simply an address to the reader from the author, Isidore Ducasse, the self-styled Count de Lautreamont, before resuming the horrific adventures of the supernatural being Maldoror.

Second Canto, Stanza 2: THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW – Maldoror, who is living it up in a mansion he seized from the owner after killing him, endures a mental attack from his archenemy God. Our protagonist survives both the mental assault AND a lighting bolt to the forehead. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 3: AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE – Maldoror reveals shocking secrets from his past and fleshes out his nightmarish philosophy. In addition we learn that the immortal Grail Knight Lohengrin roams the world in a modern disguise, hunting for Maldoror so he can end his reign of terror. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 4: THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS – Maldoror is one of the passengers on a macabre horse-drawn omnibus which rides the night-darkened streets of Paris. His fellow passengers are undead humans. An oblivious living passenger, a Parisian rag-man and an abandoned child may wind up victims of the corpse-like commuters. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 5: INDELIBLE BLOOD GLITTERING LIKE A DIAMOND – What Maldoror does to an innocent little girl is unspeakable but inevitable once the child makes the mistake of befriending the monster. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 6: THE JUSTICE OFFERED BY THE LAW IS WORTHLESS – Maldoror tries to convert a young boy to his vile philosophy. The boy tries to resist, but there is no escape for those targeted by our supernatural main character. One way or another, the boy will fall victim to Maldoror. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 7: THE HERMAPHRODITE – Maldoror becomes involved in the bizarre saga of an adult hermaphrodite. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 8: A THRONE MADE OF EXCREMENT AND GOLD – God takes the mind-boggling chess match between him and Maldoror to new levels. The end result is a nightmarish confrontation that is not for the weak of stomach. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 9: PRAYERS TO THE GODS CALLED LICE – Our insane protagonist establishes a cult around his personally-crafted Fifteen-Year Lice. He unleashes these creatures upon mankind as a plague every fifteen years. In between, he feeds them the unwanted babies of prostitutes and dismembered limbs from his victims. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 10: THE ENVENOMED WEAPON – Maldoror canonizes three very unusual goddesses as his deranged philosophy explores new avenues of thought. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 11: THE ANGEL OF THE LAMP – Maldoror battles an angel sent by God to try to stop him from preying on the worshippers at Notre Dame Cathedral. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 12: I SOUGHT A SOUL THAT MIGHT RESEMBLE MINE – Our vile main character helps a female shark prey on the unfortunate passengers of a shipwreck. Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 14: THE BODY IN THE SEINE – (Stanza 13 is synopsized in this entry since it was a fairly mundane bit.) What is Maldoror’s connection to a body found floating face-down in the Seine River? Click HERE

Second Canto, Stanza 15: THE CONQUEST OF CONSCIENCE – Maldoror clashes with winged octopi, his archenemy God AND the female embodiment of Conscience. All that plus our protagonist also performs one of the Miracles of the Antichrist. Click HERE

*** FOR MY REVIEW OF an 1812 Gothic Horror story featuring a Mandragore, an undead servitor called a Barenhauter and a She-Golem click HERE